Possession
by aaelyn
Summary: Aria Amell accepts Loghain's surrender, leaving the man she loves to be King and married to Anora. Now she has an Archdemon to deal with along with a strange voice in her head pushing her down a bad path.
1. The Landsmeet

The nobles of the Landsmeet stood watching intently as the fate of Ferelden was decided by a duel between the self-declared regent Teyrn Loghain and Alistair, the last remaining of the Theirin bloodline and the heir to the throne. The audience on the floor stood back so as not to get in the way of the fight. Silence befell the crowd.

The competitors began their dance, circling one another around the floor as the audience looked on. One young girl with mid-length raven black hair, in robes of a Tevinter enchanter, was watching closely. Eying both Loghain and Alistair as they fought, flinching slightly whenever Loghain's sword came a little too close to striking Alistair's armor. She wanted to help, just a small spell to throw Loghain off his guard giving Alistair a chance to knock him down, but she couldn't interfere. Instead she watched unblinking, squeezing her companions hand when nervous, the fiery red headed woman squeezed back in response knowing her fear.

She wished she had the skill with a sword to fight Loghain herself, but she was a mage, more skilled with magic than a weapon and not an overly fair fight on either side. Alistair was the best choice, and it was his family to avenge.

Discreetly during the duel the older Grey Warden, Riordan, tapped the mage on her shoulder and pulled her away from the fight to speak briefly, she reluctantly followed.

"Miss Amell-"

"Please, call me Aria"

"Very well, Aria. What are you plans for Loghain once the duel is over? That is, **if** Alistair wins."

She didn't like the thought of Alistair losing but pushing that thought aside she hadn't given any thought as to what they were going to do with Loghain once the Landsmeet was over. Aria hadn't even anticipated the duel happening.

"I hadn't given it much thought, although I'm pretty sure Alistair wants his revenge for Duncan's death, and I don't disagree with him. I too would like to see Loghain pay for what he did.." she relished the thought of parading around with Loghain's head on a pike, Alistair by her side.

"Rather than pay, would you agree to him atoning for his misdeeds?"

"Atoning..? What did you have in mind?" Aria asked warily.

"I will explain when the duel is over, just allow me a moment to speak before Alistair or yourself make any final decisions"

Aria nodded in agreement and they both returned to the front of the crowd, the duel ended with Alistair standing as the victor. Loghain fell to his knees in surrender.

"So, there is some of Maric in you after all. Good." Anora moved to his side as he got to his feet.

"Forget Maric. This is for Duncan."

Aria could read Alistair like a book and the tone of finality in his voice as he spoke she knew what he was thinking.

"Alistair!" She tried to get his attention before he had a chance to act, he ignored her, whether on purpose or not she wasn't sure. She needed to stop him to give Riordan a chance to speak.

Alistair gripped his sword tightly and moved into position to strike, Loghain backing away warily. Alistair raised his sword and before he could move to exact his revenge he was met with those familiar blue eyes, _her_ eyes. This petite young mage, and the object of his affections, was stood between him and Loghain. She was _protecting_ Loghain. With one word from her he lowered his sword.

"Wait" Her eyes never leaving his. Alistair had a confused and frustrated look on his face, her full of regret and anger. She had wanted him dead as much as he did and now suddenly changed her mind. As Riordan approached he knew he had something to do with this.

"There is another option." He began. "The Teyrn is a warrior and general of renown. Let him be of use. Let him go through the Joining." Aria and Alistair both shot shocked faces at Riordan.

"Make him a Warden? Why?" Aria and Alistair both shooting confused looks at each other.

"There are **three** of us in all of Ferelden. And there are... _compelling_ reasons to have as many Wardens on hand as possible to deal with the Archdemon." Riordan looking directly at Aria with a look of seriousness and worry. Neither her or Alistair knew a great deal about the Wardens, Riordan obviously knew some of the many secrets that the Wardens kept. This was the reason for wanting Loghain. But what was it.

"The Joining itself if often fatal, is it not? If he survives, you gain a general. If not, you have your revenge. Doesn't that satisfy you?" Anora chimed in her argument. Anything to keep her father alive longer.

"Absolutely not Riordan, this man abandoned our brothers and then blamed us for the deed! He hunted us down like animals. He tortured you! How can we simply forget that?" Alistair finally broke his silence, looking to Aria for assistance. She didn't know what to do, she wanted revenge as much as Alistair, but at the same time knew the Blight was of more importance. This secret Riordan knew would be the answer to everything. She had to make her decision.

"Maybe.. Riordan has a point Alistair, it would be more beneficial to have another Warden with us, with his skill, than to lose another potential fighter. Our duty to the Blight has to come first.."

"Joining the Wardens is an honor, not a punishment. Name him a Warden and you cheapen us all. I will not stand next to him as a brother, I won't!"

"We need all the help we can get, Alistair." Aria tried to reason with him, but he was too fueled by anger to listen. She was going to have to choose between her love for Alistair or her duty to Ferelden and the Wardens. _Why is Wynne always right!_ She thought.

"Loghain is a traitor. We need him like we need to be stabbed in the back! Or have you forgotten how his being a 'Great General' didn't help the last time?"

"He's being childish. How many general's do you think Ferelden has? We can't afford to lose any of them to Alistair's tantrums if we want to survive the Blight." Anora argued.

"Oh, but we can afford to lose a King, and the entire army that was abandoned at Ostagar. Whose tantrums cost us all that I wonder?!" He was getting more angry as the argument went on. "I see I need to take matters into my own hands" His voice went suddenly calmer "I demand justice, and that means I take the throne, I will be King"

His words seemed to destroy something within her, she felt tranquil, emotionless. She looked at him with empty eyes, eerily calm. Alistair was almost taken aback by her lack of emotion, it was as if he meant nothing to her anymore.

"Listen to this! Can you see how disastrous a King he'd be? Putting his own selfish desires above the needs of his country. You can't seriously support him?"

Anora was right, her lack of emotions made her think clearly for once. As upset as she had been about Duncan's death, she was sure if he had to choose between revenge and stopping the Blight he would do the same thing.

"The two of you will marry" was her final decision "You have done well ruling Ferelden up till now Anora, but I also know Alistair will make a worthy King when this Blight is over"

The anger returned to Alistair's voice "Fine. You know what, I don't care anymore. Let Loghain take the Joining, I'm done with the Wardens. I'll stay here, _marry_ Anora, and be King"

"Fine, let us move on to the pressing matter of the Blight"

Aria stepped back beside the red head, with her back to Alistair. Still with an emotionless look on her face, she felt the pain but it was not showing. Anora addressed the nobles in the matter of the Blight.

"Are you ok Aria?" the red head squeezed Aria's hand.

"I'm fine, Leliana" she looked at the red head and feigned a smile.

* * *

Aria approached Anora alone after the Landsmeet, still with an emotionless demeanor.

"Your father is to go through the Joining tonight"

"Thank you Warden, I'm grateful you gave him a chance after what happened, you are a strong women -"

"I do not want your thanks" She glared at Anora, showing her first emotion for the first time in the last couple of hours, anger. "Loghain deserved to die for what he did, and I would've let Alistair do it if not for Riordan. So if you have any thanks direct it to him."

Anora stood speechless at Aria's words.

"We will be leaving at first light for Redcliffe, Arl Eamon has left with his army already. My companions and I would like to rest, and I'm sure your father will need it **if** he survives his Joining."

"V-Very well Warden. If you wish to speak with Alistair before you depart he is upstairs, I know he was special to you and what you did was difficult."

Her angry was suddenly masked with pain as she thought of Alistair "I.. do not" With that she turned and walked away. A single tear running down her cheek.

* * *

_This is my first fan-fic. Feedback/Reviews appreciated. I've re-written the first chapter, old version was far too rushed and moved too quickly and I did decide to change a few things. Hopefully you like it :)!  
_


	2. Nightmares

_Aria was sat in the camp by the fire keeping watch with her mabari, Fang, when Alistair approached and sat beside her. She smiled at him, and thought she caught him blushing._

_"H-Hey—" He cut her off, holding his hand out to give her something._

_"Here, look at this. Do you know what this is?" Alistair handed Aria a rose, looking somewhat nervous as he did. Aria looked back at him confused, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach._

_"Uh.. Your new weapon of choice?" she smirked, trying to ease the tension._

_"Yes that's right. Watch as I thrash our enemies with the mighty power of floral arrangements! Feel my thorns, darkspawn! I will overpower you with my rosy scent."_

_Aria couldn't help but giggle at him, feeling her face go red as she did so. She calmed herself when Alistair's expression went slightly more serious._

_"Or, you know, if could just be a rose. I know that's pretty dull in comparison."_

_She gave him a sweet smile back "No, not really." She stared at the rose in her hands and looked back to Alistair._

_"You've been thumbing this flower for a while, now."_

_"I picked it in Lothering. I remember thinking, "How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?" I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just..destroy it. So I've had it ever since." He avoided her eyes slightly, still blushing._

_"What did you plan on doing with it.." she stared at him hoping the colour of the firelight would hide the fact her face was bright red. She hadn't felt this flustered over a man since she was at the Circle, since Cullen..she pushed the thought from her mind. He hated her now, he hated all mages now._

_"I thought that I might... give it to you, actually. In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you."_

_She felt the urge to squeal with excitement but managed to suppress it back down and stay calm. A lump in her throat remained though._

_"I...don't know what to say. Thank you.."_

_She stared at the rose for a little while delicately caressing the petals before closing her eyes, enveloping her hands over the rose a green light emanated from them as she cast a preservation spell on it, she wrapped the rose in a small cloth and placed it into her satchel._

_"I was just thinking... here I am doing all this complaining, and you haven't exactly been having a good time of it yourself. You've had none of the good experience of being a Grey Warden since your joining, not a word of thanks or congratulations. It's all been death and fighting and tragedy" _

_He began shuffling his feet on the ground as he looked Aria in her eyes. "I thought maybe I could say something. Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all this... darkness."_

_She couldn't help the grin that forced itself upon her face, they sat in silence for a few seconds eyes locked to each other before Aria finally spoke._

_"I..I feel the same way about you.." as she looked at Alistair the camp disappeared around them, her eyes left his to look around and when she turned back to him he was gone._

_She looked around frantically as her surroundings became fade-like, feeling the fear slowly take over when she was suddenly met with the gaze of a shadowy figure. She stepped back and froze as the subject of interest to the two piercing red eyes. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream. A low inhuman voice suddenly laughed._

* * *

Aria woke up gasping, cold sweat dripping down her face, she looked around at her surroundings and recognised her room of the Arl Eamon's estate where they had stayed before the Landsmeet. Suddenly remembering the Landsmeet and what had transpired there, she let out a weak whimper as tears flowed down her face. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

She was hoping dreaming of her memories with Alistair weren't going to be a regular occurrence, especially when she couldn't wake up with him beside her. It was painful enough knowing she was never going to feel his arms around her again, but to be reminded of it every time she slept was too much. Then there was the shadow with red glowing eyes.. that demonic laugh.. a shiver crept down her spine, maybe it was just something she ate..

Aria moved off the bed and towards the window looking out to the market district, the shops still getting things ready to open. She thought she may as well stay up now and prepare her things for leaving, the others would probably be waking up soon and then they would be leaving for Redcliffe. She picked up her robes from the end of the bed and put them on tripping over Fang, laying next to the bed, as she did. He woke up with a yelp.

"Sorry boy, my heads a bit messed up this morning.." she gave him a scratch behind his ear and he wagged his stubby tail.

She walked to the wash basin and splashed her face hopefully clearing any sign that she had been crying. She looked into the mirror above to check herself over before noticing her eyes weren't the same.. her eyes were blood-red in color, just like the shadowy figure's had been. Fear and panic rose within her, splashing some more water on her face, maybe she was just tired. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, they were her normal colour, her normal azure blue. She let out a relieved sigh.

"Maybe that dream is just getting to me.." she murmured.

She grabbed her satchel and checked the contents, in case she needed to buy more supplies before they left. Stopping at the rose wrapped in cloth, still perfectly preserved, she held it to her nose for a few moments taking in its fragrant scent before placing it back in the satchel. Fang let out a low whine.

"He won't be with us anymore Fang.. he's a King now, got more important things to worry about than little old me. Even if he didn't have his _Queen_, what King would bother with a mage." Fang growled and licked her hand. She gave a faint laugh and smiled. "Come on boy, let's go and wait for the others."

With that she left the room and made her way to the lobby, Fang following close behind.

* * *

Aria wandered the market district quickly browsing through the wares for any essential things she might need for the journey, Fang was close by watching his master intently. Rather thankful that the whole traitor business had been dealt with and Loghain now a Warden, she could freely walk the town without fear of either the Templars or being arrested for treason. Although the Templars did still look at her as if she was an abomination to be ran through, she hurried past them hoping Fang's presence might deter them a little.

Soon she found herself around the back of some buildings, suddenly remembering the Warden's Vault Riordan had spoken of. Walking past the Wonder's of Thedas she entered the building next to it, heading to the back room she opened the bookcase doors to reveal a vault of Grey Warden armor and weapons, and various other supplies she could use.

There was nothing of use to her in armor, most of it heavy man-sized armor, she had hoped to replace her mage robes maybe making her a little more invisible to the Templars.

"I suppose there really is a lack of female wardens.." she suddenly thought back to the deep roads and her encounter with the brood-mother and shuddered at the thought that she may end up like that one day.

As she got up to leave the vault a shimmer of silver caught her eye from an armor stand near the back slightly hidden by crates, she approached and found a beautiful silverite shield emblazoned with the insignia of the Grey Wardens. Nothing else in the room seemed to match its magnificence so she picked it up along with some potions and other small supplies she could carry.

"I'm sure we'll find a use for this if nothing else, saved some coin on the potions as well." She smiled at Fang, who gave back a happy bark.

They made their way back to the estate hopefully the others would be ready to leave soon, she wanted to get away from this city and any memories it held of the past few days.

As she entered the estate gates she could hear raised voices from within.

"Please say Zevran wasn't snooping through Morrigan's undergarments again.."

She ran into the lobby to see Alistair arguing with Loghain, Anora in the middle trying to separate them. The rest of the group were distanced away from the brawl some watching with amusement, others with worry or indifference.

"What in Andraste's name is going on here?!" she yelled glaring at the both of them. Loghain stepped away from Alistair as Aria approached.

"The fool says he is coming with us." Loghain said in disgust.

"I want to help. I didn't come this far to just sit on a throne and watch the blight end from the safety of a palace." He looked at Aria with sincere eyes.

"You must see he is being foolish, Warden, if he goes he will get himself killed. Just like Cailan." Anora said.

"I'd of thought you would've been happier ruling alone anyway Anora" She smirked, Anora glared back at Aria "Alistair is the King, and is quite capable of making his own decisions. I don't think it fair to compare him to Cailan, they are nothing alike. If he truly wants to help end this blight I will gladly accept his help. You have my word he will not come to any harm." She gave Anora a firm expression and Anora backed away from the topic, knowing she would not win this argument.

Alistair approached her "Thank you Aria" placing a hand on her shoulder, she slapped it away.

"We are leaving soon your Majesty, please gather your things." He felt like he had been slapped in the face – by words. She began walking away when Alistair saw the shield she was carrying.

"Wait, that shield, where did you get it?" She stopped and looked at the shield, holding it up.

"I found it, in the Grey Warden vault Riordan told me about. Why?" She stared at him curiously.

He gestured to her to come closer with it "May I?" Aria passed him the shield and watched as he looked it over so intently. The anger she felt started to disappear as his expression lit up.

"This shield.. it's Duncan's, that's his crest" He ran his hands over the griffon. Aria's eye widened at the discovery.

"You're sure?" She said as she stood next to him to examine the shield as well. He smiled at her for probably the first time in the last 12 hours. Anora watched from the corner seething, Loghain stood with the other companions who were readily gossiping over the old lovers, much to Loghain's disgust.

"Take it Alistair" Aria finally said "I hadn't decided on a use for it yet anyway, and if it is truly Duncan's it belongs to you now" She smiled at him, feeling herself blush at the same time, she quickly looked away.

"Thank you, I'll treasure this" He said smiling back at her.

She quickly went to rejoin her companions and to hush any gossip that was still being said. Everyone was now ready to leave for Redcliffe, they soon left Denerim and began the long walk to Redcliffe.

* * *

They travelled along the North Road and arrived at the tip of Lake Calenhad just before nightfall, camp was set up and they would make the final push to Redcliffe in the morning. Aria sat by the fire wood and set it alight, warming herself as she watched her companions get settled. Leliana and Zevran began preparing a meal for everyone whilst Sten and Fang stood watch nearer to the road. Morrigan had set up her own campfire a little further away from the rest of the group as usual, and Wynne casually hovered by her tent.

The tension between Alistair and Loghain had continued to rise since leaving Denerim and they were constantly shooting malicious glances at one another.

"You two are really starting to annoy me" Aria stared at them from across the fire. Alistair stood up and went to join Wynne by her tent, they started speaking in hushed voices. Loghain sat by the fire next to Aria. She felt slightly uncomfortable but supposed she had to get used to his presence, he was no Alistair but he was still a Grey Warden now. His face never seemed to change from the same serious expression.

"There are rumors among your little group of the King and yourself, I assume that now he is marrying Anora -" Aria flinched and interrupted him.

"Whatever was between Alistair and myself before ended when I recruited you. As far as he is concerned I betrayed him by letting you live." She kept her voice calm and stared at the fire. "So I will not be interfering with their marriage plans, does that satisfy you?" Loghain stared at her.

Aria sighed and stood up walking towards the lake shore, she stood there for a moment staring at the circle tower in the distance. She heard footsteps approach behind her, turning to see Zevran behind her holding two bowls of stew, she took the one offered to her.

"Thank you Zev" She said smiling at him.

"I take it you wish to be alone, yes?" Zevran looked at her with a worried expression, Aria shook her head in response.

"You can stay if you want to, I'd be glad of some non-Grey Warden company at the moment." They both sat on the shore admiring the moon's reflection off the lake whilst eating their stew.

"You know, I would be very good company in your tent tonight if you wish to make Alistair.. jealous?" He smirked mischievously. Aria almost choked on her stew.

"As much as that sounds fun Zev, I'm pretty sure it will cause more problems on my part.. and more rumors." They both laughed together.

They stood up and began making their way back towards the camp. Aria began feeling dizzy as Zevran walked ahead. Hearing voices in her head she looked around to see no one else there, her vision was slightly blurred. She turned back to the lake and could faintly see a dark figure stood by the shore, blood-red eyes glowing in the dark, she blinked and it vanished. Her vision returned and it went quiet again, the dizziness disappeared and she rushed to catch up with Zevran, heart pounding in her chest.

"Maybe..you could just make sure I get to sleep, watch over me till then or even just keep guard outside" She continued to look around nervously, Zevran nodded and smiled.

They returned to camp, everyone slowly drifting off to their tents for the night. Fang caught sight of his mistress and eagerly followed her back to their tent where she curled up under a blanket with him. Zevran remained sat outside keeping watch towards the lake.

"Is she ok?" Alistair questioned Zevran. He merely nodded in response. It wasn't long before he could hear the relaxed breathing coming from the tent of Aria sleeping, followed by Fang's slight snoring. Zevran did one last survey of the camp before retiring to his tent leaving Loghain and Sten to do the first watch.


End file.
